Competition entry

ABSTRACT

A method of enabling entry to a competition via machine-readable coded data on an entry form on a printed label of a product, the method including the steps of: receiving, in a computer system, interaction data from a sensing device, the interaction data representing interaction of the sensing device with the coded data on the entry form, the interaction data allowing the competition entry to be electronically captured in the computer system; and transmitting the competition entry to a competition administrator.

CO-PENDING APPLICATIONS

[0001] Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the presentinvention are disclosed in the following co-pending applications, thedisclosures of which are incorporated herein by cross-reference:HYC002US, HYC003US, HYC004US, HYC005US, HYC006US, HYC007US, HYC008US,HYC009US, HYC010US, HYC011US, HYT001US, HYT002US, HYT003US, HYT004US,HYT005US, HYT006US, HYT007US, HYT008US, HYG001US, HYG002US, HYG003US,HYG004US, HYG005US, HYG006US, HYG007US, HYG008US, HYG009US, HYG010US,HYG011US, HYG012US, HYG013US, HYG014US, HYG015US, HYG016US, IRA001US,IRA002US, IRA003US, HYJ001US, HYJ002US, HYD001US.

CROSS REFERENCES

[0002] Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the presentinvention are disclosed in the following co-pending applications filedby the applicant or assignee of the present invention. The disclosuresof all of these co-pending applications and granted patents areincorporated herein by cross-reference. 10/409,876 10/409,848 10/409,84509/575,197 09/575,195 09/575,159 09/575,132 09/575,123 09/575,14809/575,130 09/575,165 09/575,153 09/693,415 09/575,118 09/609,13909/608,970 09/575,116 09/575,144 09/575,139 09/575,186 09/575,18509/609,039 09/663,579 09/663,599 09/607,852 09/575,191 09/693,21909/575,145 09/607,656 09/693,280 09/609/132 09/693,515 09/663,70109/575,192 09/663,640 09/609,303 09/610,095 09/609,596 09/693,70509/693,647 09/721,895 09/721,894 09/607,843 09/693,690 09/607,60509/608,178 09/609,553 09/609,233 09/609,149 09/608,022 09/575,18109/722,174 09/721,896 10/291,522 10/291,517 10/291,523 10/291,47110/291,470 10/291,819 10/291,481 10/291,509 10/291,825 10/291,51910/291,575 10/291,557 10/291,661 10/291,558 10/291,587 10/291,81810/291,576 10/291,589 10/291,526 6,644,545 6,609,653 6,651,87910/291,555 10/291,510 19/291,592 10/291,542 10/291,820 10/291,51610/291,363 10/291,487 10/291,520 10/291,521 10/291,556 10/291,82110/291,525 10/291,586 10/291,822 10/291,524 10/291,553 10/291,51110/291,585 10/291,374 10/685,523 10/685,583 10/685,455 10/685,584NPA133US 09/575,193 09/575,156 09/609,232 09/607,844 09/607,65709/693,593 NPB008US 09/928,055 09/927,684 09/928,108 09/927,68509/927,809 09/575,183 09/575,160 09/575,150 09/575,169 6,644,6426,502,614 6,622,999 09/575,149 10/322,450 6,549,935 NPN004US 09/575,18709/575,155 6,591,884 6,439,706 09/575,196 09/575,198 09/722,14809/722,146 09/721,861 6,290,349 6,428,155 09/575,146 09/608,92009/721,892 09/722,171 09/721,858 09/722,142 10/171,987 10/202,02110/291,724 10/291,512 10/291,554 10/659,027 10/659,026 09/693,30109/575,174 09/575,163 09/693,216 09/693,341 09/693,473 09/722,08709/722,141 09/722,175 09/722,147 09/575,168 09/722,172 09/693,51409/721,893 09/722,088 10/291,578 10/291,823 10/291,560 10/291,36610/291,503 10/291,469 10/274,817 09/575,154 09/575,129 09/575,12409/575,188 09/721,862 10/120,441 10/291,577 10/291,718 10/291,71910/291,543 10/291,494 10/292,608 10/291,715 10/291,559 10/291,66010/409,864 10/309,358 10/410,484 10/683,151 10/683,040 09/575,18909/575,162 09/575,172 09/575,170 09/575,171 09/575,161 10/291,71610/291,547 10/291,538 10/291,717 10/291,827 10/291,548 10/291,71410/291,544 10/291,541 10/291,584 10/291,579 10/291,824 10/291,71310/291,545 10/291,546 09/693,388 09/693,704 09/693,510 09/693,33609/693,335 10/181,496 10/274,119 10/309,185 10/309,066 NPW014US NPS047USNPS048US NPS049US NPS050US NPS051US NPS052US NPS053US NPS054US NPS045USNPS046US NPT037US NPA138US NPA136US

[0003] Some application has been listed by docket numbers, these will bereplace when application number are known.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0004] The invention relates generally to the field of promotionalcompetitions for retail sale of product items, typically high volume,low cost grocery items. In particular, the invention relates to the useof invisible product tagging.

BACKGROUND

[0005] Due to the significant proliferation of low cost retail outletsfor staples and other consumables, there has developed a wide range ofmarketing schemes to attract customers to individual stores or specificproducts. These schemes are not directly based on product or pricedifferentiation. For instance, most customers are familiar with therange of competitions that promote products. These competitionstypically require a customer to send in an entry form. Many customerscannot be bothered submitting the entry forms so the of the promotion isundermined.

[0006] Other competitions or promotions require the collection of tokensthat may be redeemed for a prize. There are also instant wincompetitions that alert a customer to prize when they peel off a label,open a cap, or similar action. In some cases it is necessary to providedemographic data before the prize can be redeemed.

OBJECT

[0007] It is an object of the invention to provide the public with auseful alternative to existing product promotion competitions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0008] In a first aspect the present invention provides a method ofenabling entry to a competition via machine-readable coded data on anentry form on a printed label of a product, the method including thesteps of: receiving, in a computer system, interaction data from asensing device, the interaction data representing interaction of thesensing device with the coded data on the entry form, the interactiondata allowing the competition entry to be electronically captured in thecomputer system; and transmitting the competition entry to a competitionadministrator.

[0009] In a further aspect the present invention provides a method ofenabling entry to a competition via a printed label of a product, thelabel including: machine-readable coded data relating to an identity ofthe product label; and human-readable information relating to thecompetition, the method including the steps of: using a sensing device,reading at least some of the coded data while the sensing device is usedby a user to draw or write on the interface, and generating interactiondata based on the read coded data, the interaction data being indicativeof a position of the sensing device relative to the interface and of theidentity of the product label; receiving, in a computer system, theinteraction data from the sensing device; and transmitting competitionentry information based on the interaction data to a competitionadministrator, the competition administrator being configured to recorda competition entry based on the competition entry information.

[0010] In another aspect the present invention provides a system forenabling competition entry using machine-readable coded data on aprinted competition entry form on a label of a product, and a sensingdevice configured to sense at least some of the coded data from a formand generating interaction data, said interaction data representinginteraction of the sensing device with the coded data, the systemincluding a computer system configured and programmed to: receive theinteraction data and electronically capture the competition entry on thebasis of the interaction data; and transmit the competition entry to acompetition administrator.

[0011] In a further aspect the present invention provides a system forenabling competition entry via a product label including human-readableinformation relating to a competition and machine-readable coded datarelating to an identity of the label, and a sensing device configured tosense the machine-readable coded data as the sensing device is used tointeract with the product label, and to generate interaction data basedat least partly on the sensed coded data, the system including acomputer system configured and programmed to: receive the interactiondata from the sensing device; correlate the interaction data with acompetition; and record an entry in the competition based on thecorrelation.

[0012] In another aspect the present invention provides a product labelincluding coded data and human-readable information, the label beingconfigured for use with the methods and systems of the above paragraphs.

[0013] In a second aspect the present invention provides a product labelfor enabling entry to a competition, the product label comprising:machine-readable coded data indicative of at least an identity of thelabel, said machine-readable coded data being readable by a sensingdevice as the sensing device is moved across the product label, therebyto produce interaction data for enabling the competition entry;human-readable information pertaining to the competition, thehuman-readable information being at least partially coincident with themachine-readable coded data, the human-readable information including atleast one field element that has a corresponding zone defined inrelation to it in a page description stored in a remote computer system.

[0014] In a further aspect the present invention provides a method ofenabling entry to a competition using a product label that includeshuman-readable information relating to a competition andmachine-readable coded data relating to an identity of the label, thehuman-readable information including at least one field element that hasa corresponding zone defined in relation to it in a page descriptionstored in a remote computer system, the method including the steps of,using a sensing device, of: sensing at least some of the coded data asthe sensing device is used to interact with at least one of the at leastone field elements; using the sensed coded data to generate interactiondata representing the identity of the label and a position of thesensing device relative to the interface surface; and transmitting theinteraction data to a computer system for enabling entry to thecompetition via the computer system determining that the interactiondata represents interaction of the sensing device with at least one ofthe at least one field elements.

[0015] In a further aspect the present invention provides a system forenabling competition entry using a printed product label, the systemcomprising: a sensing device configured to: sense coded data from thelabel; and generate interaction data representing interaction of thesensing device with the coded data, wherein the form comprises regionsselected from the group comprising information fields, buttons, andentry fields; and a computer system configured to receive theinteraction data and correlate the interaction data with a competition.

[0016] In another aspect the present invention provides a system forcompetition entry using printed labels, the system comprising: a productlabel including human-readable information relating to a competition andmachine-readable coded information relating to an identity of the label,wherein the product label further comprises regions selected from thegroup consisting of information fields, buttons, and entry fields; asensing device configured to sense the machine-readable coded data asthe sensing device is moved across the product label, and to generateinteraction data based on the sensed coded data; a computer systemprogrammed to correlate the interaction data with a competition and torecord an entry in the competition based on the correlated interactiondata.

[0017] In a third aspect the present invention provides a method ofenabling anonymous entry to a competition via a printed competitionentry form that includes machine-readable coded data, the methodincluding the steps, performed in a computer system, of: receivinginteraction data representing interaction of a sensing device with thecoded data, the interaction data enabling the competition entry to beelectronically captured in the computer system; assigning a competitionalias ID to the competition entry; and transmitting the competitionentry to a competition administrator with the competition alias ID,thereby enabling the anonymous entry to the competition.

[0018] In a further aspect the present invention provides a method ofenabling anonymous entry to a competition via a printed product labelthat includes human-readable information relating to the competition andmachine-readable coded data relating to an identity of the label, themethod including the steps of: receiving, in a computer system,interaction data generated by a sensing device, the interaction databeing derived from at least some of the machine-readable coded datasensed by a sensing device in response to a user using the sensingdevice to draw, write, point or click on the label, the interaction databeing indicative of a position of the sensing device relative to thesensed coded data; assigning a competition alias ID to the interactiondata; and transmitting the interaction data and the competition alias IDto a competition administrator for correlation with the competition,thereby enabling anonymous entry to the competition.

[0019] In a further aspect the present invention provides a system forenabling anonymous competition entry, the system including: a sensingdevice configured to: sense machine-readable coded data from a form asthe sensing device is used to interact with the form; and generateinteraction data representing the interaction of the sensing device withthe coded data; and a computer system configured and programmed to:receive the interaction data; correlate the interaction data with acompetition, and assign a competition alias ID to the interaction data,thereby enabling the anonymous competition entry.

[0020] In another aspect the present invention provides a system foranonymous competition entry via: a product label includinghuman-readable information relating to the competition andmachine-readable coded information relating to an identity of the label;and a sensing device configured to: sense at least some of themachine-readable coded data as the sensing device is moved across theproduct label; and generate interaction data based at least partly onthe sensed coded data; the system including a computer system configuredand programmed to:

[0021] (a) receive the interaction data from the sensing device;

[0022] (b) correlate the interaction data with a competition;

[0023] (c) assign a competition alias ID to the interaction data; and

[0024] (d) record an entry in the competition.

[0025] In a fourth aspect the present invention provides a method of:enabling an entrant to enter a competition; and limiting subsequentcommunication between a competition administrator and the entrant; via asensing device interacting with machine-readable coded data on a printedcompetition entry form, the method comprising the steps, performed in acomputer system, of:

[0026] (a) receiving interaction data representing the interaction ofthe sensing device with the coded data, the interaction data enablingthe competition entry to be electronically captured in the computersystem;

[0027] (b) transmitting the competition entry to the competitionadministrator; and

[0028] (c) enabling transmission of up to a predetermined number ofelectronic messages from the competition administrator to the entrant.

[0029] In a further aspect the present invention provides a system for:enabling an entrant to enter a competition; and limiting subsequentcommunication between a competition administrator and the entrant; via asensing device interacting with machine-readable coded data on a printedcompetition entry form, the system comprising a computer systemconfigured and programmed to:

[0030] (a) receive interaction data representing the interaction of thesensing device with the coded data, the interaction data enabling thecompetition entry to be electronically captured in the computer system;

[0031] (b) transmit the competition entry to the competitionadministrator; and

[0032] (c) enable transmission of up to a predetermined number ofelectronic messages from the competition administrator to the entrant.

[0033] In a fifth aspect the present invention provides a method ofenabling redemption of a first coupon, the first coupon being printed onsurface and including machine-readable coded data that can be sensed bya sensing device configured to generate interaction data based on thesensed coded data, the method comprising the steps, performed in acomputer system, of: receiving the interaction data representinginteraction of the sensing device with the coded data, the interactiondata enabling the first coupon to be identified in the computer system;transmitting information identifying the first coupon to a couponadministrator that is configured to redeem the first coupon on the basisof the information.

[0034] In a further aspect the present invention provides a system forenabling redemption of a first coupon, the first coupon being printed ona surface and including machine-readable coded data that can be sensedby a sensing device configured to generate interaction data based on thesensed coded data, the system including a computer system programmed andconfigured to: receive the interaction data representing interaction ofthe sensing device with the coded data, the interaction data enablingthe first coupon to be identified in the computer system; transmitinformation identifying the first coupon to a coupon administrator thatis configured to redeem the first coupon on the basis of theinformation.

[0035] In a sixth aspect the present invention provides a method ofenabling anonymous electronic redemption of a token printed as part of aproduct label, the product label including machine-readable coded data,the method including the steps, performed in a computer system, of:receiving interaction data representing interaction of a sensing devicewith the coded data, the interaction data enabling electronic captureof: token data of the token; and a product identifier associated withthe product label; assigning an alias ID to the token data; andtransmitting the token data, the product identifier and the alias ID toa token administrator configured to redeem the token electronically.

[0036] In a further aspect the present invention provides a method ofenabling a user to anonymously redeem a token via interaction of asensing device with a product label, the product label includinghuman-readable information relating to the token and machine-readablecoded data relating to an identity of the label, the method comprisingthe steps of: sensing, while the user responds to the human-readableinformation by interacting drawing on the label with the sensing device,at least some of the coded data with the sensing device; generating, inthe sensing device, interaction data comprising an identity of the labeland a position of the sensing device relative to the coded data, theinteraction data being based at least partially on the sensed codeddata; and sending, to a computer system, the interaction data forenabling the computer system to transmit the interaction data to acompetition administrator that correlates the interaction data with thetoken offer and records a token redemption, wherein the computer systemis configured to transmit the token offer to the competitionadministrator in such a way that the user remains anonymous with respectto the competition administrator.

[0037] In a further aspect the present invention provides a system forenabling anonymous electronic redemption of a token on a product label,via a sensing device configured to sense coded data from the productlabel and generate interaction data representing the interaction of thesensing device with the coded data, the system including a computersystem configured and programmed to:

[0038] receive the interaction data;

[0039] correlate the interaction data with a token offer and a productidentifier;

[0040] assign an alias ID to the token data; and

[0041] transmit the token data, the product identifier and the alias IDto a token administrator configured to redeem the token electronically.

[0042] In another aspect the present invention provides a system forenabling anonymous and electronic redemption of a token forming part ofa product label, the product label including human-readable informationrelating to the token and machine-readable coded information relating toan identity of the label, the system comprising a sensing deviceconfigured to: sense at least some of the coded data while a userresponds to the human-readable information by interacting with thelabel; generate interaction data comprising an identity of the label anda position of the sensing device relative to the coded data; send, to acomputer system, the interaction data for enabling the computer systemto transmit the interaction data to a competition administrator thatcorrelates the interaction data with the token offer and records a tokenredemption, wherein the computer system is configured to transmit thetoken offer to the competition administrator in such a way that the userremains anonymous with respect to the competition administrator.

[0043] In a seventh aspect the present invention provides a method ofenabling electronic redemption a plurality of tokens, wherein each theplurality of tokens is disposed on a product label and includes codeddata that can be used to determine a unique product identifier of theproduct label with which it is associated, the method including thesteps of:

[0044] using a sensing device, and for each of the plurality of tokens:

[0045] (a) generating interaction data by sensing at least some of thecoded data of the token, the interaction data representing interactionof the sensing device with the coded data; and

[0046] (b) forwarding the interaction data to a computer system, forenabling the product identifier associated with the product label to becaptured electronically in the computer system, thereby enabling thecomputer system to transmit further information to a tokenadministrator; and

[0047] receiving token redemption information from the tokenadministrator after a predetermined combination of the furtherinformation has been transmitted to the token administrator.

[0048] In a further aspect the present invention provides a method ofenabling electronic redemption of a plurality of tokens, wherein eachthe plurality of tokens is disposed on a product label and includescoded data that can be used to determine a unique product identifier ofthe product label with which it is associated, and wherein a sensingdevice has been used, for each of the plurality of product labels, to:

[0049] (a) generate interaction data by sensing at least some of thecoded data of the token, the interaction data representing interactionof the sensing device with the coded data; and

[0050] (b) forward the interaction data to a computer system;

[0051] the method including the steps, performed in the computer system,of:

[0052] receiving a set of the interaction data corresponding to each ofthe labels;

[0053] generating further information based on each set of theinteraction data, the further information identifying a tokenadministrator; and

[0054] transmitting at least some of the further information to thetoken administrator for enabling determination of when a predeterminedcombination of tokens has been interacted with using the sensing device.

[0055] In another aspect the present invention provides a system forenabling electronic redemption of a plurality of tokens, wherein each ofthe plurality of tokens is disposed on a product label and includescoded data that can be used to determine a unique product identifier ofthe label, the system including:

[0056] a sensing device configured to, as it used to interact with eachof the plurality of tokens:

[0057] (a) generate interaction data by sensing at least some of thecoded data of the token, the interaction data representing interactionof the sensing device with the coded data; and

[0058] (b) forward the interaction data to a computer system, forenabling the product identifier associated with the product label to becaptured electronically in the computer system, thereby enabling thecomputer system to transmit further information to a tokenadministrator; and

[0059] receiving token redemption information from the tokenadministrator after a predetermined combination of the furtherinformation has been transmitted to the token administrator.

[0060] In a further aspect the present invention provides a system forenabling anonymous redemption of a plurality of tokens, wherein each theplurality of tokens is disposed on a product label and includes codeddata that can be used to determine a unique product identifier of theproduct label with which it is associated, and wherein a sensing devicehas been used, for each of the plurality of product labels, to:

[0061] (a) generate interaction data by sensing at least some of thecoded data of the token, the interaction data representing interactionof the sensing device with the coded data; and

[0062] (b) forward the interaction data to a computer system;

[0063] the system including a computer system configured and programmedto:

[0064] receive a set of the interaction data corresponding to each ofthe labels;

[0065] generate further information based on each set of the interactiondata, the further information identifying a token administrator; and

[0066] transmit at least some of the further information to the tokenadministrator for enabling determination of when a predeterminedcombination of tokens has been interacted with using the sensing device.

[0067] In another aspect the present invention provides a method ofenabling electronic redemption of a plurality of tokens, wherein eachthe plurality of tokens is disposed on a product label and includescoded data that can be used to determine a unique product identifier ofthe product label with which it is associated, and wherein a sensingdevice has been used, for each of the plurality of product labels, to:

[0068] (a) generate interaction data by sensing at least some of thecoded data of the token, the interaction data representing interactionof the sensing device with the coded data; and

[0069] (b) forward the interaction data to a computer system;

[0070] the method including the steps, performed in a tokenadministrator, of:

[0071] receiving further information based on each set of theinteraction data;

[0072] determining when a predetermined combination of tokens has beeninteracted with using the sensing device; and

[0073] outputting an indication that the predetermined combination hasbeen interacted with.

[0074] In an eighth aspect the present invention provides a method ofenabling submission of form data to an application via a printed form,the printed form having coded data readable by a sensing device as thesensing device is used to interact with the form, the method includingthe steps, performed in a computer system, of:

[0075] receiving, from the sensing device: interaction data representinginteraction of the sensing device with the coded data, the interactiondata enabling the form data to be electronically captured in thecomputer system; and a sensing device ID of the sensing device;

[0076] allocating a temporary registration to the sensing device ID orto a user associated with the sensing device, the registration includinga return telecommunication address associated with the sensing device IDor the user;

[0077] transmitting the form data to the application.

[0078] In a further aspect the present invention provides a method ofenabling submission of form data to an application via a printed form,the printed form including human-readable information relating to theform and machine-readable coded data relating to an identity of theform, the method including the steps, performed in a computer system,of:

[0079] receiving, from the sensing device, interaction data and sensingdevice identification information, the interaction data including theidentity of the form and having been generated by the sensing devicebased on coded data sensed in response to the sensing device being usedto interact with the label;

[0080] allocating, on the basis of the sensing device identificationinformation, a temporary registration to the sensing device or a userassociated with the sensing device, the registration including a returntelecommunication address associated with the sensing device or theuser; and

[0081] transmitting at least some of the interaction data to theapplication.

[0082] In another aspect the present invention provides a system forenabling submission of form data to an application, the systemcomprising:

[0083] a sensing device having a sensing device ID, the sensing devicebeing configured to sense coded data on a form and generate interactiondata representing interaction of the sensing device with the coded data,and having a transmitter for transmitting the sensing device ID andinteraction data to a computer system; and

[0084] a computer system configured and programmed to:

[0085] receive the sensing device ID and the interaction data;

[0086] allocate a temporary registration to the sensing device ID or toa user associated with the sensing device, the registration including areturn telecommunication address associated with the sensing device IDor the user;

[0087] transmit the form data to the application.

[0088] In a further aspect the present invention provides a system forenabling submission of form data via a form that includesmachine-readable coded information relating to an identity of the label,a sensing device having sensed at least some of the machine-readablecoded data as the sensing device was used to interact with the productlabel and having generated interaction data based at least partly on thesensed coded data, the interaction data including at least the identity,the sensing device including a sensing device ID;

[0089] the system comprising a computer system configured and programmedto:

[0090] receive the sensing device ID and the interaction data;

[0091] allocate a temporary registration to the sensing device ID or toa user associated with the sensing device, the registration including areturn telecommunication address associated with the sensing device IDor the user;

[0092] transmit the form data to the application.

[0093] In a ninth aspect the present invention provides a method ofvalidating entry to a competition via interaction of a sensing devicewith a printed competition entry form comprising coded data indicativeof a unique product identifier, the method comprising the steps,performed in a computer system, of:

[0094] receiving, from the sensing device, interaction data representinginteraction of the sensing device with the coded data, the interactiondata including at least the unique product identifier and enabling acompetition entry to be electronically captured in the computer system;and

[0095] transmitting the product identifier and the competition entry toa competition administrator for validation of the competition entry atthe competition administrator by verification of the product identifier.

[0096] In a further aspect the present invention provides a method ofenabling validation of a competition entry via a product label, theproduct label including human-readable information relating to acompetition and machine-readable coded data relating to an identity ofthe label and including a product identifier, the method including thesteps of:

[0097] receiving, in a computer system, interaction data from thesensing device, the interaction data including the product identifierand movement data generated by the sensing device in response to thesensing device being used to draw or write on the product label, theinteraction data having been generated by sensing at least some of themachine-readable coded data; and

[0098] transmitting the interaction data to a competition administratorfor validating the competition entry by verifying the productidentification.

[0099] In another aspect the present invention provides a system forvalidating entry to a competition via interaction of a sensing devicewith a printed competition entry form comprising coded data indicativeof a unique product identifier, the system including a computer systemconfigured and programmed to:

[0100] receive, from the sensing device, interaction data representinginteraction of the sensing device with the coded data, the interactiondata including at least the unique product identifier and enabling acompetition entry to be electronically captured in the computer system;and

[0101] transmit the product identifier and the competition entry to acompetition administrator for validation of the competition entry at thecompetition administrator by verification of the product identification.

[0102] In a further aspect the present invention provides a system forenabling validation of a competition entry via a product label, theproduct label including human-readable information relating to acompetition and machine-readable coded data identifying a productidentifier via a product identifier, the system including a computersystem configured and programmed to:

[0103] receive interaction data from the sensing device, the interactiondata including the product identifier and movement data generated by thesensing device in response to the sensing device being used to draw orwrite on the product label, the interaction data having been generatedby sensing at least some of the machine-readable coded data; and

[0104] transmit the interaction data to a competition administrator forvalidating the competition entry by verifying the productidentification.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0105] Embodiments of the invention will now be described with referenceto the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0106]FIG. 1 is a schematic of a relationship between a sample printednetpage and its online page description;

[0107]FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a netpage pen and its associatedtag-sensing field-of-view cone;

[0108]FIG. 3 is a schematic of competition entry interactions;

[0109]FIG. 4 shows the competition entry user interface flow;

[0110]FIG. 5 shows a competition entry form;

[0111]FIG. 6 shows a competition details form;

[0112]FIG. 7 shows an entry confirmation message;

[0113]FIG. 8 shows an entry status message;

[0114]FIG. 9 shows a prize claim form;

[0115]FIG. 10 shows the competition entry interaction detail;

[0116]FIG. 11 shows competition win interaction detail;

[0117]FIG. 12 is a schematic of prize redemption at a retailer;

[0118]FIG. 13 shows interaction detail for coupon-less prize collection;

[0119]FIG. 14 is a schematic of an instant win competition userinterface;

[0120]FIG. 15 shows an instant win entry form;

[0121]FIG. 16 shows an instant win prize claim;

[0122]FIG. 17 shows interaction detail for anonymous prize collectionusing a coupon;

[0123]FIG. 18 shows a schematic of competition object management.

[0124]FIG. 19 shows a competition class diagram;

[0125]FIG. 20 shows a competition limits class diagram;

[0126]FIG. 21 shows a competition entry class diagram;

[0127]FIG. 22 shows a competition user class diagram;

[0128]FIG. 23 shows a default web terminal class diagram;

[0129]FIG. 24 shows a schematic view of a form class diagram;

[0130]FIG. 25 shows a schematic view of a digital ink class diagram;

[0131]FIG. 26 shows a schematic view of a field element specializationclass diagram;

[0132]FIG. 27 shows a schematic view of a checkbox field class diagram;

[0133]FIG. 28 shows a schematic view of a text field class diagram;

[0134]FIG. 29 shows a schematic view of a signature field class diagram;

[0135]FIG. 30 shows a flowchart of an input processing algorithm;

[0136]FIG. 30a shows a detailed flowchart of one step of the flowchartof FIG. 30; and

[0137]FIG. 31 shows a competition entry form class diagram

[0138]FIG. 32 shows a temporary user class diagram

[0139]FIG. 33 shows a schematic view of a hyperlink request classdiagram;

[0140]FIG. 34 shows a schematic view of a hyperlink activation protocol.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0141] The invention employs an optical tagging technology that has beendesignated “Hyperlabel™”. Hyperlabel™ is an optical tagging technologydesigned for uniquely identifying individual product items in the globalsupply chain. Hyperlabel™ consists of covering a large portion of thesurface of a product item with optically-readable invisible tags.Hyperlabel™ tags are applied during product manufacturer and/orpackaging.

[0142] In the preferred embodiment, the invention is configured to workwith the netpage networked computer system. It will be appreciated thatnot every implementation will necessarily embody all or even most of thespecific details and extensions discussed below in relation to the basicsystem. However, the system is described in its most complete form toreduce the need for external reference when attempting to understand thecontext in which the preferred embodiments and aspects of the presentinvention operate.

[0143] In the netpage system a surface such as a page is printed with acollection of invisible tags, each tag a couple of millimeters indiameter. A tag uniquely identifies the surface on which it appears, aswell as its own position on the surface. The collection of tags on asurface thus defines a high-precision coordinate grid identifiably tiedto the particular surface. When read by a suitable sensing deviceoperated by a user, the tags allow the sensing device to determine itsown movement relative to the surface. When coupled with a description ofthe visible (and typically printed) content of the surface, thedescription allows the movement to be interpreted relative to thevisible surface content seen by the user, e.g. as a “press” on thevisible representation of a “button”. The tags are printed using aninfrared ink invisible to humans, while visible surface content isprinted using colored inks which are transparent in the infrared part ofthe spectrum.

[0144] For example, where a “print” function is implemented in theearlier embodiment, it is necessary to obtain a position of the tag (ormore precisely, a position of the sensing device relative to the tag)and the identity of the page encoded by the tag. This information isthen used in conjunction with a page description, usually by a remoteserver, to determine that a “print a particular document” function isassociated with the position of the sensing device on that particularpage.

[0145] However, in an alternative embodiment, the function is encodeddirectly and completely into the tag. For example, the tag canexplicitly encode the instruction to “print a particular document”directly into the tag's data, thereby avoiding the need for atranslation of the page identity and sensing device position via thepage description. This embodiment has some advantages, including thefact that there is no need for an external lookup, and the fact that thesame tags can be used in different documents to perform the samefunction. However, in some circumstances this embodiment may beconsidered somewhat limiting due to the absence of location and pageinformation. For example, an absence of location information means thathandwriting capture cannot be performed using the tags as referencepoint relative to which the handwriting is captured.

[0146] The netpage sensing device operated by the user may be in theform of a pen with a marking nib, and the movement of the pen may beinterpreted as form input, such as handwritten text. Because the netpagesystem captures marking input, it crucially distinguishes betweendifferent instances of the same surface content (such as a form).

[0147] It will be appreciated that it is not necessary to include amarking nib in cases where it is not necessary or desirable for adocument to be marked. For example, a nib-less sensing device can beused as a non-marking pointer. In its simplest form, this embodiment isjust a point-and-click device, designed to capture (for example) only asingle frame of tag information for decoding in response to the userdesignating a location on a Netpage page. As such, this pointer cannotbe used for handwriting capture, or for other applications in whichmovement of the sensing device over time must be tracked.

[0148] Alternatively, the pointer can be otherwise identical to theversion with the nib, enabling capture of movement of the sensing devicewithout marking of the page.

[0149] Using an invisible (e.g. infrared) tagging scheme to uniquelyidentify a product item has the significant advantage that it allows theentire surface of a product to be tagged, or a significant portionthereof, without impinging on the graphic design of the product'spackaging or labelling. If the entire product surface is tagged, thenthe orientation of the product doesn't affect its ability to be scanned,i.e. a significant part of the line-of-sight disadvantage of a visiblebar code is eliminated. Furthermore, if the tags are compact andmassively replicated, then label damage no longer prevents scanning.

[0150] Hyperlabel™, then, consists of covering a large proportion of thesurface of a product item with optically-readable invisible tags. Whenthe tags utilise reflection or absorption in the infrared spectrum theyare also referred to as infrared identification (IRID) tags. EachHyperlabel™ tag uniquely identifies the product item on which itappears. The tag may directly encode the electronic product code (e.g.EPC) of the item, or may encode a surrogate ID which in turn identifiesthe product code via a database lookup. Each tag also optionallyidentifies its own position on the surface of the product item, toprovide the downstream consumer benefits of netpage interactivity.

[0151] Hyperlabel™ tags are applied during product manufacture and/orpackaging using digital printers. These may be add-on infrared printerswhich print the tags after the text and graphics have been printed byother means, or integrated color and infrared printers which print thetags, text and graphics simultaneously.

[0152] As illustrated in FIG. 1, a printed netpage 1 represents aninteractive form that can be filled in by the user both physically, onthe printed page, and “electronically”, via communication between asensing device (pen) and the netpage system. The example shows a“Request” form containing name and address fields and a submit button.The netpage consists of graphic data 2 printed using visible ink, andcoded data 3 printed as a collection of tags 4 using invisible ink. Thecorresponding page description 5, stored on the netpage network,describes the individual elements of the netpage. In particular itdescribes the type and spatial extent (zone) of each interactive element(i.e. text field or button in the example), to allow the netpage systemto correctly interpret input via the netpage. The submit button 6, forexample, has a zone 7 which corresponds to the spatial extent of thecorresponding graphic 8.

[0153] The active sensing device of the netpage system is typically apen of the type shown in FIG. 2. The pen, generally designated byreference numeral 20, includes a housing 21 in the form of a plasticsmoulding defining an interior space for mounting the pen components. Thepen top 22 is in operation rotatably mounted at one end 23 of thehousing 21 to select a nib 24, which may be an ink cartridge nib ornon-marking stylus, through open end 25 of a metal end piece 26. Themetal end piece 26 is removable to enable ink cartridge replacement.

[0154] As described above, the inclusion of a marking nib is optional.It can either simply be omitted, or replaced with a non-marking nib toenable accurate visual and tactile feedback to the user regarding theposition of the sensing device on the page. As mentioned, the sensingdevice can also operate in single (or low rate) frame capture such thatcontinuous or frequent capture of movement of the sensing devicerelative to the page using the tags is not possible. A semi-transparentcover 27 is secured to the opposite end of the housing 21. The cover 27is also of moulded plastics, and is formed from semi-transparentmaterial in order to enable the user to view the status of a tri-colourLED mounted within the housing 21. The cover 27 includes a main part 27a which substantially surrounds the end of the housing 21 and aprojecting portion 27 b which projects back from the main part 27 a. Aradio antenna is mounted behind the projecting portion 27 b, within thehousing 21.

[0155] An infrared LED is mounted within the housing 21 for projectinginfrared radiation onto a surface 28. An infrared image sensor ismounted within the housing 21 with field of view 29 for receivingradiation reflected from the surface 28. A radio frequency chip, whichincludes an RF transmitter and RF receiver, and a controller chip forcontrolling operation of the pen 20, are also mounted within thehousing.

[0156] Rubber grip pad 21 a is provided towards the end of the housing21 to assist gripping the pen 20, and top 22 also includes a clip 21 bfor clipping the pen 20 to a pocket.

[0157] The pen 20, uses the embedded controller, to capture and decodeIR position tags from a page via the image sensor. The image sensor is asolid-state device provided with an appropriate filter to permit sensingat only near-infrared wavelengths. The system is able to sense when thenib is in contact with the surface, and the pen is able to sense tags ata sufficient rate to capture human handwriting (i.e. at 200 dpi orgreater and 100 Hz or faster). Interaction data captured by the pen isencrypted and wirelessly transmitted to a base station, the base stationinterprets the data with respect to the (known) page structure.

[0158] The preferred embodiment of the netpage pen operates both as anormal marking ink pen and as a non-marking stylus. The marking aspect,however, is not necessary for using the netpage system as a browsingsystem, such as when it is used as an Internet interface. Each netpagepen is registered with the netpage system and has a unique pen ID.

[0159] When either nib is in contact with a netpage, the pen determinesits position and orientation relative to the page. The nib is attachedto a force sensor, and the force on the nib is interpreted relative to athreshold to indicate whether the pen is “up” or “down”. This allows aninteractive element on the page to be ‘clicked’ by pressing with the pennib, in order to request, say, information from a network. Furthermore,the force is captured as a continuous value to allow, say, the fulldynamics of a signature to be verified.

[0160] The pen determines the position and orientation of its nib on thenetpage by imaging, in the infrared spectrum, the area 28 of the page inthe vicinity of the nib. It decodes the nearest tag and computes theposition of the nib relative to the tag from the observed perspectivedistortion on the imaged tag and the known geometry of the pen optics.Although the position resolution of the tag may be low, because the tagdensity on the page is inversely proportional to the tag size, theadjusted position resolution is quite high, exceeding the minimumresolution required for accurate handwriting recognition.

[0161] Pen actions relative to a netpage are captured as a series ofstrokes. A stroke consists of a sequence of time-stamped pen positionson the page, initiated by a pen-down event and completed by thesubsequent pen-up event. A stroke is also tagged with a page ID of thenetpage whenever the page ID changes, which, under normal circumstances,is at the commencement of the stroke.

[0162] A sequence of captured strokes is referred to as digital ink.Digital ink forms the basis for the digital exchange of data, drawingsand handwriting, for online recognition of handwriting, and for onlineverification of signatures.

[0163] The pen is wireless and transmits digital ink to the basestation, which may be a Personal Computer or a mobile phone, forexample, via a short-range radio link. The transmitted digital ink isencrypted for privacy and security and packetized for efficienttransmission, but is always flushed on a pen-up event to ensure timelyprocessing.

[0164] When the pen is out-of-range of a base station it buffers digitalink in internal memory, which has a capacity of over ten minutes ofcontinuous handwriting. When the pen is once again within range of abase station, it transfers any buffered digital ink.

[0165] A pen can be registered with any number of base stations, butbecause all state data resides in netpages both on paper and on thenetwork, it is largely immaterial which base station a pen iscommunicating with at any particular time.

[0166] A form defines a collection of related input fields used tocapture a related set of inputs through a printed netpage. A form allowsa user to submit one or more parameters to an application softwareprogram running on a server.

[0167] A form 867 is a group element 838 in the document hierarchy. Itultimately contains a set of terminal field elements 839. A forminstance 868 represents a printed instance of a form. It consists of aset of field instances 870 which correspond to the field elements 845 ofthe form. Each field instance has an associated value 871, whose typedepends on the type of the corresponding field element. Each field valuerecords input through a particular printed form instance, i.e. throughone or more printed netpages. The form class diagram is shown in FIG.24. Each form instance has a status 872 which indicates whether the formis active, frozen, submitted, void or expired. A form is active whenfirst printed. A form becomes frozen once it is signed. A form becomessubmitted once one of its submission hyperlinks has been activated,unless the hyperlink has its “submit delta” attribute set. A formbecomes void when the user invokes a void form, reset form or duplicateform page command. A form expires when the time the form has been activeexceeds the form's specified lifetime. While the form is active, forminput is allowed. Input through a form which is not active is insteadcaptured in the background field 832 of the relevant page instance. Whenthe form is active or frozen, form submission is allowed. Any attempt tosubmit a form when the form is not active or frozen is rejected, andinstead elicits form status report. Each form instance is associated (atreference numeral 59) with any form instances derived from it, thusproviding a version history. This allows all but the latest version of aform in a particular time period to be excluded from a search.

[0168] All input is captured as digital ink. Digital ink 873 consists ofa set of timestamped stroke groups 874, each of which consists of a setof styled strokes 875. Each stroke consists of a set of timestamped penpositions 876, each of which also includes pen orientation and nibforce. The digital ink class diagram is shown in FIG. 25.

[0169] A field element 845 can be a checkbox field 877, a text field878, a drawing field 879, or a signature field 880. The field elementclass diagram is shown in FIG. 26. Any digital ink captured in a field'szone is assigned to the field.

[0170] A checkbox field has an associated boolean value 881, as shown inFIG. 27. Any mark (a tick, a cross, a stroke, a fill zigzag, etc.)captured in a checkbox field's zone causes a true value to be assignedto the field's value.

[0171] A text field has an associated text value 882, as shown in FIG.28. Any digital ink captured in a text field's zone is automaticallyconverted to text via online handwriting recognition, and the text isassigned to the field's value. Online handwriting recognition iswell-understood (see, for example, Tappert, C., C. Y. Suen and T.Wakahara, “The State of the Art in On-Line Handwriting Recognition”,IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, Vol.12,No.8, August 1990, the contents of which are herein incorporated bycross-reference).

[0172] A signature field has an associated digital signature value 883,as shown in FIG. 29. Any digital ink captured in a signature field'szone is automatically verified with respect to the identity of the ownerof the pen, and a digital signature of the content of the form of whichthe field part is generated and assigned to the field's value. Thedigital signature is generated using the pen user's private signaturekey specific to the application which owns the form. Online signatureverification is well-understood (see, for example, Plamondon, R. and G.Lorette, “Automatic Signature Verification and Writer Identification—TheState of the Art”, Pattern Recognition, Vol.22, No.2, 1989, the contentsof which are herein incorporated by cross-reference).

[0173] A field element is hidden if its “hidden” attribute is set. Ahidden field element does not have an input zone on a page and does notaccept input. It can have an associated field value which is included inthe form data when the form containing the field is submitted.

[0174] “Editing” commands, such as strike-through indicating deletion,can also be recognized in form fields.

[0175] Because the handwriting recognition algorithm works “online”(i.e. with access to the dynamics of the pen movement), rather than“offline” (i.e. with access only to a bitmap of pen markings), it canrecognize run-on discretely-written characters with relatively highaccuracy, without a writer-dependent training phase. A writer-dependentmodel of handwriting is automatically generated over time, however, andcan be generated up-front if necessary.

[0176] Digital ink, as already stated, consists of a sequence ofstrokes. Any stroke which starts in a particular element's zone isappended to that element's digital ink stream, ready for interpretation.Any stroke not appended to an object's digital ink stream is appended tothe background field's digital ink stream.

[0177] Digital ink captured in the background field is interpreted as aselection gesture. Circumscription of one or more objects is generallyinterpreted as a selection of the circumscribed objects, although theactual interpretation is application-specific. TABLE 1 Summary of peninteractions with a netpage Object Type Pen input Action HyperlinkGeneral Click Submit action to application Form Click Submit form toapplication Selection Click Submit selection to application Form fieldCheckbox Any mark Assign true to field Text Handwriting Convert digitalink to text; assign text to field Drawing Digital ink Assign digital inkto field Signature Signature Verify digital ink signature; generatedigital signature of form; assign digital signature to field None —Circumscription Assign digital ink to current selection

[0178] The system maintains a current selection for each pen. Theselection consists simply of the most recent stroke captured in thebackground field. The selection is cleared after an inactivity timeoutto ensure predictable behavior.

[0179] The raw digital ink captured in every field is retained on thenetpage page server and is optionally transmitted with the form datawhen the form is submitted to the application. This allows theapplication to interrogate the raw digital ink should it suspect theoriginal conversion, such as the conversion of handwritten text. Thiscan, for example, involve human intervention at the application levelfor forms which fail certain application-specific consistency checks. Asan extension to this, the entire background area of a form can bedesignated as a drawing field. The application can then decide, on thebasis of the presence of digital ink outside the explicit fields of theform, to route the form to a human operator, on the assumption that theuser may have indicated amendments to the filled-in fields outside ofthose fields.

[0180]FIG. 30 shows a flowchart of the process of handling pen inputrelative to a netpage. The process consists of receiving (at 884) astroke from the pen; identifying (at 885) the page instance to which thepage ID 50 in the stroke refers; retrieving (at 886) the pagedescription 5; identifying (at 887) a formatted element 835 (FIG. 24)whose zone the stroke intersects; determining (at 888) whether theformatted element corresponds to a field element, and if so appending(at 892) the received stroke to the digital ink of the field value 871(FIG. 24), interpreting (at 893) the accumulated digital ink of thefield, and determining (at 894) whether the field is part of ahyperlinked group and if so activating (at 895) the associatedhyperlink; alternatively determining (at 889) whether the formattedelement corresponds to a hyperlink element and if so activating (at 895)the corresponding hyperlink; alternatively, in the absence of an inputfield or hyperlink, appending (at 890) the received stroke to thedigital ink of the background field; and copying (at 891) the receivedstroke to the current selection of the current pen, as maintained by theregistration server.

[0181]FIG. 30a shows a detailed flowchart of step 893 in the processshown in FIG. 30, where the accumulated digital ink of a field isinterpreted according to the type of the field. The process consists ofdetermining (at 896) whether the field is a checkbox and (at 897)whether the digital ink represents a checkmark, and if so assigning (at898) a true value to the field value; alternatively determining (at 899)whether the field is a text field and if so converting (at 900) thedigital ink to computer text, with the help of the appropriateregistration server, and assigning (at 901) the converted computer textto the field value; alternatively determining (at 902) whether the fieldis a signature field and if so verifying (at 903) the digital ink as thesignature of the pen's owner, with the help of the appropriateregistration server, creating (at 904) a digital signature of thecontents of the corresponding form, also with the help of theregistration server and using the pen owner's private signature keyrelating to the corresponding application, and assigning (at 905) thedigital signature to the field value.

[0182] Hyperlink Activation Protocol

[0183] A preferred embodiment of a hyperlink activation protocol isshown in FIG. 34.

[0184] When a user clicks on a netpage with a netpage pen, the pencommunicates the click to the nearest netpage printer 10601. The clickidentifies the page and a location on the page. The printer alreadyknows the ID 1061 of the pen from the pen connection protocol.

[0185] The printer determines, via the DNS, the network address of thepage server 10010 a handling the particular page ID 10050. The addressmay already be in its cache if the user has recently interacted with thesame page. The printer then forwards the pen ID, its own printer ID10062, the page ID and click location to the page server.

[0186] The page server loads the page description identified by the pageID and determines which input element's zone, if any, the click lies in.Assuming the relevant input element is a hyperlink element, the pageserver then obtains the associated application ID 10064 and link ID10054, and determines, via the DNS, the network address of theapplication server hosting the application 10071.

[0187] The page server uses the pen ID 10061 to obtain the correspondinguser ID 10060 from the registration server 10011, and then allocates aglobally unique hyperlink request ID 10052 and builds a hyperlinkrequest 10934. The hyperlink request class diagram is shown in FIG. 33.The hyperlink request records the IDs of the requesting user andprinter, and identifies the clicked hyperlink instance 10862. The pageserver then sends its own server ID 10053, the hyperlink request ID, andthe link ID to the application.

[0188] The application produces a response document according toapplication-specific logic, and obtains a document ID 10051 from an IDserver 10012. It then sends the document to the page server 10010 bresponsible for the document's newly allocated ID, together with therequesting page server's ID and the hyperlink request ID.

[0189] The second page server sends the hyperlink request ID andapplication ID to the first page server to obtain the corresponding userID and printer ID 10062. The first page server rejects the request ifthe hyperlink request has expired or is for a different application.

[0190] The second page server allocates document instance and page IDs10050, returns the newly allocated page IDs to the application, adds thecomplete document to its own database, and finally sends the pagedescriptions to the requesting printer.

[0191] The hyperlink instance may include a meaningful transaction ID10055, in which case the first page server includes the transaction IDin the message sent to the application. This allows the application toestablish a transaction-specific context for the hyperlink activation.

[0192] If the hyperlink requires a user alias, i.e. its “alias required”attribute is set, then the first page server sends both the pen ID 10061and the hyperlink's application ID 10064 to the registration server10011 to obtain not just the user ID corresponding to the pen ID butalso the alias ID 10065 corresponding to the application ID and the userID. It includes the alias ID in the message sent to the application,allowing the application to establish a user-specific context for thehyperlink activation.

[0193] Competition Entry

[0194] The invention utilises the hyperlabel/netpage technology as anefficient and effective vehicle for competition entry. The competitionentry interactions are depicted in FIG. 3. An entry form is printed on aproduct item 30 which is read by a sensing device, such as pen 20. Whena user (entrant) invokes a function on the entry form, the interactiondata is sent to the netpage System, from the user's netpage pen 20, viawireless communication (A). The interaction data is transmitted from thepen to the user's netpage base station 31. The netpage base station 31may be the user's mobile phone or PDA, or it may be some other netpagedevice, such as a PC. The interaction data is relayed (B) to theHyperlabel™ server 32 and then on (C) to a competition administrator,which is normally a manufacturer server 33. The Hyperlabel™ server 32knows the manufacturer server 33 to send the message to form theapplication ID. On receipt of the interaction data, the applicationidentifies the desired response and sends the appropriateaction/response message (D) to the Hyperlabel™ server 32. TheHyperlabel™ server 32, as part of the netpage system, can know theidentity and devices of the user. The Hyperlabel™ server 32 will relay(E) the manufacturer server's response to the user's phone 34 or (F) Webbrowsing device 35, as appropriate. If the user's netpage pen 20 hasLEDs then the Hyperlabel™ server 32 can send a command (H) to the user'spen to light the appropriate LED(s).

[0195] When a user commences interaction between their netpage pen andthe competition entry form (product label) they become an entrant to thecompetition. The terms ‘entrant’ and ‘user’ are used interchangeablywith the particular term used being dependent on the context forclarity.

[0196] It is desirable that every user has their own pen so that theirpersonal profile is recorded against the unique pen ID. However, aretailer could maintain a stock of pens that are assigned to users whenthey shop at the retailer. For instance, the user may register at akiosk on arrival or at a retail outlet. The unique ID of the pen isassociated with the user for the duration of shopping. The privacy ofthe user can be maintained in the manner described below. Alternatively,a user may be able to temporarily acquire a pen at the checkout for useduring processing of their purchases.

[0197] Competition Entry User Interface

[0198] The Hyperlabel™ competition entry form may be printed on anysurface such as a product brochure, product packaging or a formavailable at the place of purchase. A user may enter a competition usinga single click of the pen, or by drawing, writing, or answeringquestions. The user may also click a button on the competition entryform to check the status of the competition.

[0199] The Competition Entry Form user interface flow is shown in FIG.4. The primary user interface is the entry form shown in FIG. 5. Thereare three types of regions on the entry form: ‘information fields’ thatshow information about the competition; ‘buttons’ that generate actions;and ‘entry fields’ for user input.

[0200] The information fields include the competition name 50,description 51, and conditions 52. The buttons include <More Info> 53,<Submit Entry> 54, <Print> 55 and <Have I Won?> 56. The enter fieldsinclude text regions 57 where a user is invited to write a few words inanswer to a question, check boxes 58 and a signature field 59.

[0201] The user presses the <More Info> button 53 to query more detailsabout the competition. The Competition Details, shown in FIG. 6, aredisplayed on the user's default Web display terminal. The competitiondetails includes the competition name, description, conditions, startdate, end date, any other competition details, and details of the prizesbeing offered. The default WeB display terminal may be the user's mobilephone or PDA, or it may be a display provided by the retailer for thepurpose.

[0202] The user enters text, and ticks check boxes to answer questionsrelating to competition entry. The user signs the form in the signaturefield to certify that they meet the minimum age requirements forcompetition entry. The user presses the <Submit Entry> button to submitthe entry to the manufacturer via the netpage base station andhyperlabel server, as depicted in FIG. 3. The privacy of the user isprotected by transmitting anonymous information to the manufacturer, asexplained in more detail below. An Entry Confirmation Message is sent tothe user, as shown in FIG. 7.

[0203] At any time after submitting an entry the user can press the<Have I Won?> button. The user is sent an Entry Status Message, as shownin FIG. 8. The Entry Status Message gives the competition name, the dateand time the entry was submitted and the prize details. The user pressesthe <Claim Prize> button to opt-in and reveal their identity to themanufacturer. If the user does not wish to reveal their information theycan push the <No Thanks> button and opt-out.

[0204] In most cases the manufacturer will wish to collect demographicinformation before releasing a prize, however it is possible to issue aprize token irrespective of the information collected. In either case, aClaim Prize message is sent to the user, as shown in FIG. 9.

[0205] The user presses the <Print> button on the competition entry formto print the competition entry form on a netpage printer. This allowsthe user to complete an entry form on paper rather than using thepackaging. In some cases, product packaging may be on a material thatcannot easily be written on, for example, a foil or plastic chip packet.In this case it will also be necessary to print the entry form. Thenetpage printer may be a personal printer owned by a user who personallyowns a netpage pen. Alternatively the retailer may provide a netpageprinter at the point of sale. The entry form is then completed by themethod described above.

[0206] Competition Entry Interaction Detail

[0207] As described above; a Hyperlabel™ competition entry form cancontain printed text, various types of input fields such as check boxes,text input fields, drawing input fields or signature fields, and controlbuttons. The form may contain printed control buttons to submit theuser's entry, or check the status of the user's entry.

[0208] A competition may be managed by the manufacturer, or themanufacturer may outsource the running of the competition to a thirdparty competition management service.

[0209] The interaction detail for manufacturer Entry is shown in FIG.10. The netpage user writes on an entry form and clicks a button tosubmit the entry. The netpage pen 20 sends the pen id, the product'sitem ID and the digital ink to the Hyperlabel™ server 32 via the netpagebase station 31 (FIG. 3). The Hyperlabel™ server 32 sends the pen ID tothe netpage Registration server 100, along with the digital ink from thesignature field, if appropriate. The netpage Registration server 100uses the pen ID to determine the netpage user id, and then allocates acompetition alias ID and verifies the user signature. The competitionalias id is a random number allocated by the netpage System in order tomaintain the user's anonymity. The Hyperlabel™ server 32 converts thetransmitted digital ink into form data, and sends the competition aliasid, form data and signature verification status to the manufacturerserver 33. The manufacturer server 33 validates the entry and, if valid,returns the competition alias ID and an entry confirmation message tothe Hyperlabel™ server 32. The Hyperlabel™ server 32 sends thecompetition alias ID to the Registration server 100 which returns thedefault terminal ID for the user's default Web browsing device. TheHyperlabel™ server 32 then sends an entry confirmation message to theterminal id, which may be the user's preferred web display device, suchas a PDA 35. Alternatively, the terminal is the device via which theinput came.

[0210] The interaction detail for a Competition Win is shown in FIG. 11.When a competition winner is decided the manufacturer server 33 sendsthe winner's competition alias ID and the “You Have Won” message to theHyperlabel™ server 32. The Hyperlabel™ server 32 sends the competitionalias ID to the registration server 100 which translates this to thenetpage user ID and returns the terminal ID of the user's default Webdisplay device 35, such as PDA. The Hyperlabel™ server 32 then sends thecompetition alias id, terminal ID and “You Have Won” message to user'sWeb display device 35. The user then responds and the Web display device35 sends the user's competition alias ID and their opt-in response tothe Hyperlabel™ server 32. The Hyperlabel™ server 32 sends thecompetition alias id to the registration server which returns the user'sdetails. The Hyperlabel™ server 32 then sends the competition alias ID,the opt-in response and the user's details to the manufacturer server.

[0211] Alternatively opt-in may be optional and the user may be able tocollect their prize anonymously from a retailer or other prizecollection point, as described in detail below.

[0212] Single-click competition entry is possible provided no otheruser-input information is required by the manufacturer. The user clickson the <Submit Entry> button on the competition entry form and thisresults in a competition entry being sent to the manufacturer.

[0213] Alternatively, competition entry may require the user to write ordraw something on the entry form, answer multiple choice questions, ortick check boxes. In this case, the user fills out the required fieldsusing their netpage pen, and then clicks on the <Submit Entry> button.

[0214] Manufacturers do not need to publish all Hyperlabel™ items asinstances to a netpage Server. Instead, the instance is published ondemand, the first time the label is used. The product item ID isallocated as the unique transaction ID for the page instance. In thecase of the user pressing the <Print> button, a new copy of the form isprinted to the user's netpage printer. The page instance is given thesame transaction ID (i.e. the product id), effectively superseding theoriginal version, and preventing the original from being re-used.

[0215] Similarly, an entry form could contain a <Copy> button so that acopy of the entry form may be transferred to the user's Web browsingdevice allowing the user to fill in the entry form from the device andsubmit the entry to the manufacturer. In all these cases the entry form“replaces” the original. The original entry form, say from the productpackaging, cannot be re-used to enter the competition multiple times.

[0216] User Contact and Feedback

[0217] The netpage System can limit feedback from the manufacturer tothe user. A contact count may be kept which tracks the number of timesthe manufacturer has contacted the user. For example, a manufacturer maybe permitted to send up to a limit of three messages to the user inrelation to a competition. The manufacturer may send the user an “EntryReceived” message, a “Competition Closing Soon” message, and then a“Competition Results” message. The netpage system can manage this typeof contact and still maintain the user's anonymity through the use of acompetition alias id.

[0218] The contact count will have a maximum value after which contactwith the user is disabled. The maximum value for the contact count maybe pre-set and notified to the user on the competition entry form.Alternatively, the maximum value may be a value that is able to be setby the user at the time of competition entry by interaction of thesensing device with a check box or data entry field on the competitionentry form.

[0219] The user can get feedback in a variety of ways. The user'stransaction may direct a Web page to be displayed on the user's PC, PDAor other Web browsing device. The output device is the device via whichthe pen input comes, or alternatively it is an output device registeredto the user or to the pen. An email, SMS, page message, voicemailmessage or phone call may be sent to the user from the manufacturer viathe Hyperlabel™ server (which can maintain the user's anonymity). Eachtime the manufacturer sends a message to the user the contact count isincremented for the user. This is used to limit the number of times amanufacturer can contact the user.

[0220] The user's netpage pen may have colored LEDs which can be used toprovide feedback. For example, if the user presses a <Have I Won?>button, a query is sent to the manufacturer as to the status of thecompetition in relation to this user. The user's pen may show a greenlight if the user has won the competition, an orange light may indicatethe competition is not yet decided, and a red light may indicate thatthe competition is closed and the user has not won.

[0221] This type of query and feedback mechanism may be handled by thenetpage system, or alternatively the query may be passed to themanufacturer's server. If the status request message is sent to themanufacturer's server it has a “one-time-use” return path which allowsthe manufacturer to send a response to the user. Another model forfeedback is the “blackboard model”. This “blackboard” refers to ageneral location, such as a Web page, where the manufacturer can postinformation. The user can query this location to read the informationwhile maintaining their anonymity.

[0222] Entry Validation

[0223] The Hyperlabel™ server 32, manufacturer server 33, or acompetition management service can validate each competition entry. Theunique product item ID enables the manufacturer to verify that the itemwas legitimately purchased, assuming that this information is sent fromthe retail system to manufacturer's system at the time of sale. It alsoallows the manufacturer to verify that there is a single competitionentry per item.

[0224] Validation of any input fields can be performed if required. Forexample, the user may be required to write a description of why theywould like to win the competition in twenty words or less. Validationcan be performed to count the number of words written on the form, andreject the entry if necessary.

[0225] The competition conditions may limit the number of entries peruser. It may not be possible for the manufacturer to perform thisvalidation, depending on how the user's alias ID has been allocated,however a trusted identity management service, and/or the netpagesystem, can perform this validation on behalf of the manufacturer.

[0226] The competition entry form preferably has a signature field 59(FIG. 5). This may have a variety of purposes, such as providing adeclaration that the user meets entry age requirements. The user'ssignature will prove the identity of the user to the netpage system, socompetition entry conditions, such as a minimum age requirement, can beverified by the netpage system prior to the entry being accepted andforwarded to the manufacturer. In the netpage System, a signature fieldhas an associated digital signature value. Any digital ink captured in asignature field's zone is automatically verified with respect to theidentity of the owner of the pen. No signature digital ink or digitalsignature value is passed to the manufacturer, but the netpage systemwill verify the signature and set a flag indicating the verificationstatus of the digital signature.

[0227] If an entry fails to meet the entry requirements it can berejected and, optionally, a message can be sent to the user via one ofthe feedback mechanisms described above.

[0228] User Anonymity

[0229] As mentioned above, the anonymity of the user can be maintainedthroughout a competition. When the competition entry is sent to acompetition administrator such as a supplier or product manufacturer,the user's identity is protected by the netpage system. The user mayremain anonymous to the product manufacturer until such time as theychoose to authorize the manufacturer to access their identity andcontact details.

[0230] Alternatively, the manufacturer may choose to use a trustedthird-party identity escrow service to manage the user's anonymity. Thethird-party would be trusted by the netpage system to manage the user'sidentity and maintain the user's anonymity until such time as the userauthorizes the third party to reveal the user's identity.

[0231] When a user requests a netpage in a particular applicationcontext, the application is able to embed a user-specific transaction IDin the page. Subsequent input through the page is tagged with thetransaction ID, and the application is thereby able to establish anappropriate context for the user's input.

[0232] When input occurs through a page which is not user-specific,however, the application must use the user's unique identity toestablish a context. To protect the user's privacy, however, the uniqueuser ID known to the netpage system is not divulged to applications.This is to prevent different application providers from easilycorrelating independently accumulated behavioral data.

[0233] The netpage registration server instead maintains an anonymousrelationship between a user and an application via a unique alias ID.Whenever the user activates a hyperlink tagged with the “registered”attribute, the netpage page server asks the netpage registration serverto translate the associated application ID, together with the pen ID,into an alias ID. The alias ID is then submitted to the hyperlink'sapplication.

[0234] The application maintains state information indexed by alias ID,and is able to retrieve user-specific state information withoutknowledge of the global identity of the user.

[0235] The system also maintains an independent certificate and privatesignature key for each of a user's applications, to allow it to signapplication transactions on behalf of the user using onlyapplication-specific information.

[0236] A user's competition alias ID may be unique to a netpage user andcompetition ID combination. In other words a netpage user would have aunique competition alias ID for each competition they entered. If amanufacturer were running more than one competition then the user wouldhave more than one competition alias id. The manufacturer would not beaware of the connection between the competition alias IDs unless theuser opted in and revealed their identity for each competition.

[0237] An alternative approach is that the competition alias ID isunique to a netpage user and manufacturer combination. If a manufacturerruns several competitions then a single competition alias ID will beused for all the user's entries to these competitions. The manufacturercan determine if a single netpage user has entered multiplecompetitions. If the user opts in and reveals their identity in onecompetition, the manufacturer can correlate the user's identity with acompetition alias ID across the multiple competitions. The competitionalias ID may persist even after a competition closes.

[0238] Another possibility is that a user's competition alias ID isunique to a netpage user and competition entry combination. In this casethe manufacturer could not tell if a single netpage user had entered thesame competition more than once.

[0239] The object model in this document uses the competition alias IDas unique to a netpage user/manufacturer ID combination, but othermethods for allocating a competition alias ID are possible.

[0240] Another approach to maintaining anonymity of an entrant to acompetition (user) is to provide a temporary telecommunication addressas an alias to the actual telecommunication address recorded for theuser of the sensing device. As shown in FIG. 3 and described above,interaction of the netpage pen 20 with a product item 30 results ininteraction data to the user's netpage base station 31 and on toHyperlabel™ server 32. The Hyperlabel™ server 32 maintains a database ofregistered users of netpage pens and can access details of the user,such as the telecommunication address of the user's preferredtelecommunication device, be it a PDA, mobile phone, or other similardevice. The hyperlabel server can generate a temporary telecommunicationaddress to substitute for the actual telecommunication address, thusmaintaining the anonymity of the telecommunication address of the userfrom the manufacturer server 33.

[0241] When the manufacturer server 33 sends a message to the temporarytelecommunication address, the hyperlabel server forwards the message tothe telecommunication address of the user.

[0242] A temporary telecommunication address can be associated with atelecommunication address of a competition entrant by any appropriateassociating means. The task may be performed by the Hyperlabel™ server32 as described, by the netpage base station 31, by the registrationserver 100, or by an additional server in the system programmed for thetask, such as an escrow server associated with the manufacturer server.

[0243] One approach to generating the temporary telecommunicationaddress is to use encryption algorithms to generate an encryptedtelecommunication address for an entrant. The encryptedtelecommunication address is used for communication to and from themanufacturer server. It is decrypted before any communication isforwarded to the entrant.

[0244] The server that generates the temporary telecommunication addressmay also maintain a counter to monitor the number of times communicationis forwarded to the telecommunication address of the entrant. A limitcan be placed on the number of times information is forwarded.

[0245] Prize Collection at Retailer

[0246] If a competition user is eligible for a prize they may be able tocollect the prize directly from a retailer or other prize collectionpoint. The user may be able to collect their prize but remain anonymous.The user only needs to provide something that can identify them as beinga specific competition user. If the user has collected a pen from aretailer for the duration of their shopping trip the need foridentification will be automatically satisfied.

[0247] When the user is notified that they have won a prize they maycollect the item they have won from the store shelf and take it to theservice desk. Alternatively the service desk may hold the prizes inreserve.

[0248] The service operator may have a Hyperlabel™ prize form from themanufacturer, listing the prizes available in the competition. Theredemption form may be printed by the operator on demand. The formidentifies the retailer and potentially the operator's terminal. ThePrize Collection at Retailer interaction diagram is shown in FIG. 12 andthe interaction detail is shown in FIG. 13.

[0249] The user clicks their pen 20 on the prize redemption form 121provided by the service operator in order to identify themselves (A) tothe netpage base station 31 as a particular competition user.Alternatively, the user's pen may be a Hyperlabel™, allowing theoperator to scan the user's pen at the terminal, in order to verify theuser's identity. Other forms of identification that may be provided bythe user are possible, and include a rewards card, a prize token, amobile phone or PDA etc.

[0250] The digital ink and the user's pen ID are sent (B) from thenetpage pen 20 via a netpage base station 31 to the Hyperlabel™ server32. The Hyperlabel™ server 32 translates the digital ink, and sends thepen id to the registration server 100, which returns the pen user'scompetition alias ID. The competition ID, retailer details (identifyingthe store, operator and service terminal), and competition alias ID aresent (C) to the manufacturer's server 33 which looks up the prize(s) wonby this user.

[0251] The manufacturer's server 33 may send (D) the prize details tothe store server 130 for notification (E) to the operator's serviceterminal 131. The operator can then scan (F) the items 132 beingredeemed with a fixed local scanner 133. Details of the scanned item go(G) to the store server 130, and the store server 130 sends a messageback (H) to the manufacturer's server 33 indicating the item ID of theprizes 132 collected by the competition user.

[0252] Alternatively, the manufacturer server 33 may send a yes or noanswer to the store server 130, indicating whether the user is eligiblefor any prizes, along with a redemption ID for the competition user. Theredemption ID is a temporary transaction ID. The store server 130 thensends a message to the operator's service terminal 131 putting theterminal into a prize redemption mode. The operator may then scan theitem(s) being claimed by the user. The redemption ID and item ID aresent back to the manufacturer's server 33 to validate whether this itemcan be claimed by the competition user.

[0253] Rather than a user being eligible for a prize of a singlespecific product, there may be a prize list from which the user canchoose. The prizes may vary and be specific to a store or retail chain.This allows more flexibility for competitions and rewards schemes.

[0254] Instant Win

[0255] A variation on competition entry often used by manufacturers isthe concept of “instant win”. An Instant Win Competition user interfaceflow is shown in FIG. 14. The user answers the questions on the InstantWin Entry Form 150, as shown in FIG. 15, and presses the <Submit Entry>button 151. The Instant Win Prize Claim message 170 is sent to the user,as shown in FIG. 16. The user presses the <Print Coupon> button 171 toprint the prize claim coupon on a netpage printer.

[0256] As with the competition entry described above, the user may pressthe <Print> button 152 on the instant win entry form to print the entryform on a netpage printer. This allows the user to complete an entryform on paper rather than using the packaging.

[0257] The competition entry form, in this case, may or may not includequestions that the user must answer. The user clicks on the <SubmitEntry> button 151 and the entry is sent to a competition administratorsuch as the manufacturer server. If the entry meets the competition'sentry requirements the user is automatically eligible to claim themanufacturer's offer. The product item id, obtained from the packageHyperlabel™, allows the manufacturer to verify that the product waslegitimately purchased before allowing the user to claim a prize. Italso allows the manufacturer to verify that there is a singlecompetition entry per item.

[0258] The manufacturer may send a message to the user's Web displaydevice, or through some other feedback, instructing them how to claimthe prize. The user may remain anonymous and collect their prize fromthe retailer as described above. Alternatively, the user may be requiredto reveal their identity in order that the prize can be delivered.Another alternative is that an instant win coupon 140 (FIG. 14) isprinted, which can be redeemed for a prize. The coupon is printed with aserial number, and may be a netpage coupon i.e., invisibly tagged. Theinteraction detail for prize collection using a coupon is shown in FIG.17.

[0259] A prize may be redeemed by the user taking the coupon to theoperator service terminal 131 where the coupon is scanned and digitalink is sent to the store server 130. The store server 130 sends thedigital ink and retailer details to the Hyperlabel™ server 32 that sendsthe digital ink to the registration server 100 which returns acompetition alias ID. The Hyperlabel™ server 32 sends the retailerdetails, competition ID, competition alias ID and coupon number to themanufacturer server 33 for verification and authentication. Themanufacturer server sends a manufacturer ID, competition ID, competitionalias ID and prize list back to the store server 130 which passes thedata to the operator service terminal 131. The user chooses a prize fromthe prize list and the operator service terminal 131 reports this to thestore server with the manufacturer ID, competition ID and competitionalias ID, which are passed to the manufacturer server 33 asconfirmation.

[0260] It will be appreciated that the user may remain anonymousthroughout the instant win coupon prize collection process.

[0261] Token Collection

[0262] Another form of purchase incentive often employed by productmanufacturers is that of token or coupon collection. This refers to somemechanism whereby a consumer provides proof of purchase for one or moreproducts and a coupon administrator, such as a manufacturer, in returnprovides some form of reward.

[0263] This type of scheme can easily be implemented with Hyperlabel™packaging. The packaging can be printed with details of the offer and a<Token> button. The user clicks on the <Token> button on the requirednumber of products, and is then eligible for the manufacturer's offers.

[0264] The product Hyperlabel™ provides the product's unique item id.This allows the manufacturer or third-party competition manager tovalidate that each <Token> button is from a separate product, and notmultiple <Token> presses on the same item. The product item ID alsoenables the manufacturer to verify that the item was legitimatelypurchased, thereby preventing a user from claiming an offer by clickingon <Token> buttons in-store. Further, the product item ID allows themanufacturer to validate that each token is used by a single user.

[0265] Once the conditions of the offer have been met, the user may berequired to explicitly provide their contact details to themanufacturer. A message may be sent from the manufacturer or competitionmanager to the user requesting this information. Alternatively the usermay be contacted and asked to merely press a button, or perhaps providetheir signature, which authorizes the netpage system to send the usercontact information to the manufacturer. This type of communication withthe user occurs in the usual way e.g. via the user's Web terminal,mobile phone etc.

[0266] Alternatively, once the conditions of the offer have been met,the user may print a coupon which can be presented to a retailer forprize redemption (as described above). Another alternative is the usermay collect their prize direct from a retailer or other prize collectionpoint as described earlier. This type of collection may allow the userto collect their prize anonymously.

[0267] Rewards Scheme

[0268] In a variation on the competition mechanism already described, arewards scheme can be implemented in a similar way to the tokencollection scenario. A user may have a rewards scheme card which allowsthe user to accumulate points towards prizes or rewards. The card may bea Hyperlabel™ to allow a store operator to scan it.

[0269] Each card has a unique identifier. A rewards scheme may beoffered by a manufacturer, or by a particular store, retail chain, orservice provider.

[0270] A Hyperlabel™ rewards card need not be identified as belonging toa particular netpage user, but can be associated with a competitionuser. The card may have a button which, when clicked, allows the user toquery how many points they have accumulated, displaying the result ontheir default Web terminal.

[0271] Points may be accumulated in a variety of ways. The rewards cardmay be scanned by a store operator at the time of product purchase.Alternatively the netpage user may claim points by clicking on therelevant items they have purchased. More points may be offered by thescheme owner based on the level of participation by the user, forexample, if the user opts in to allowing email notifications of specialoffers or new products they may receive bonus points.

[0272] Dynamic User Registration

[0273] The netpage system allows for dynamic user registration if a userand/or sensing device are not already registered with the computersystem. Most of the scenarios mentioned above rely on the netpageregistration server (or equivalent server) identifying the user'snetpage user id and the associated web display terminal id from the penid. If the user or pen is not already registered with the netpagesystem, the user may be dynamically registered with the netpage systemwhen they first interact with a competition entry form.

[0274] When the netpage Registration server receives an unknown pen idit allocates a temporary netpage user id. The default return messagingchannel is set to point to the device that relayed the pen's message,such as a mobile phone, PDA or PC. The return messaging channel may beidentified by a phone number, pager number, PDA network address (e.g. IPaddress, MAC address etc.), email address, network subscriber identifieretc. The relaying device either explicitly includes the return channeladdress in the message relayed to the Hyperlabel™ server (and hence tothe Registration server), or the Hyperlabel™ server determines theaddress in a protocol-specific way. For example, the Hyperlabel™ servermay extract the IP address of the relaying device from the message ifdelivered via an IP network, or may use Caller Identification or someother telephone network mechanism to determine the phone number of therelaying device. In the case of an IP address the Hyperlabel™ server mayassume a standard port number for the return messaging channel. Dynamicregistration is only really useful if a return messaging channel can beidentified. The temporary netpage user id may be maintained forever oronly for the duration of the competition.

[0275] Competition Entry Object Model

[0276] The Competition Entry object model revolves around competitions,competition entries, and competition users. FIG. 18 illustrates themanagement and organisation of these objects. The Manufacturer orCompetition Management Server 180 manages the competition andcompetition prizes. The Hyperlabel™/netpage System 181 manages thecompetition entry (hyperlabel server 33) and user interface(registration server 100)

[0277] A competition class diagram is shown in FIG. 19. A manufacturermay have many competitions. Each competition is associated with aproduct class and a manufacturer. A competition has a unique competitionid, a name, description, a start date and end date, status, conditions,age limit, and other details. The status indicates whether a competitionis open, i.e. no winner had yet been drawn, or closed i.e. the winner(s)have been decided and no more entries are being accepted. The age limitindicates the minimum age requirements (if any) for any user submittingan entry.

[0278] Associated with each competition, and managed by theHyperlabel™/netpage system, is a competition limits object comprising acontact limit. The contact limit indicates the maximum number of times acompetition user may be contacted by the manufacturer in relation tothis competition. The Competition Limits class diagram is shown in FIG.20.

[0279] A competition has one or more prizes. Each competition prize hasa prize number which is unique within a competition, details (giving adescription of the prize), and a prize status. The prize statusindicates if the prize has been redeemed, drawn but not yet redeemed, ornot yet drawn. When a winner is drawn for a competition, the competitionuser is associated with the relevant prize and the prize status isupdated.

[0280] Each competition will have a large number of competition entries.The Competition Entry class diagram is shown in FIG. 21. Eachcompetition entry is associated with a product item. Each competitionentry has an entry id, unique within the competition, and the date andtime the entry was received. A competition entry can have a number ofentry elements, depending on the input fields on the entry form. Theentry may have a text element, for user entered text, a drawing elementfor a user-entered drawing, a multiple-choice option number (if theentry contained a multiple-choice question), and a signatureverification status. The competition entry may have a token element ifthe competition entry conditions involve collecting tokens.

[0281] A netpage user can enter many competitions. The Competition Userclass diagram is shown in FIG. 22. A netpage user is allocated acompetition alias id. The netpage user may be allocated a uniquecompetition alias ID for each manufacturer, and this alias ID will beused for all competitions associated with this manufacturer. Anotheralternative is that the netpage user may be allocated a uniquecompetition alias ID for each competition they enter. Regardless of howthe competition alias ID is allocated, the competition user objectcomprises the competition alias id, a contact count indicating how manytimes the manufacturer has contacted the user, and an opt in flag. Theopt in flag is set to true if the user has agreed to reveal theiridentity and contact details to the manufacturer for the purposes ofclaiming an offer.

[0282] A netpage user has a default Web terminal, with an associatedterminal id. This is the default Web display device for the user. TheDefault Web Terminal class diagram is shown in FIG. 23.

[0283] As described in the section on Dynamic User Registration, thenetpage registration server may allocate a temporary user id the firsttime a user enters a competition using a sensing device that has notpreviously been registered. Part of the temporary user id is recordal ofa return messaging channel, which may be a phone number, pager number,PDA network address, email address, subscriber id, or similarcommunication channel. A class diagram for the temporary user is shownin FIG. 32.

[0284] Although specific reference is made to a netpage pen, any netpagesensing device can be used. Specific reference is made to a Hyperlabel™server, which is a specific instance of a netpage page server, and to aregistration server. The registration server and the Hyperlabel servercan be the same server.

[0285] It will be appreciated by those skilled in the relevant fieldsthat a number of other embodiments, differing from those specificallydescribed, will fall within the scope of the present invention.Accordingly, the invention is not intended to be limited to the specificembodiments described in the specification, including documentsincorporated by cross-reference as appropriate.

[0286] Loyalty Schemes

[0287] It will be appreciated that the tokens can be related toparticipation in a loyalty or reward scheme, in which points areallocated to purchases made by a user. Upon accumulating sufficientpoints, users can exchange the points for goods or services, or forupgrades or discounts on goods and services they wish to pay for.

[0288] An example of such a scheme is any of the bonus programs run byvarious groups of airlines, in which discounts, upgrades and freeflights can be earned by accumulating points based on distances flownusing affiliated airlines. Points can also be accumulated by purchasinggoods and services at certain outlets, and using certain creditfacilities such as particular brands of credit card.

[0289] In the present context, points can be collected and allowed toaccumulate over time by interacting with tokens on product labels ofproducts. Each token can be worth a fixed number of points, althoughspecial bonus offers for interacting with multiple tokens of aparticular type, or a particular combination of tokens from differentproducts or product types. Promotions can be run whereby the pointsassociated with a particular token or tokens can temporarily beincreased in a store or chain of stores.

[0290] If the user is registered with a particular program, a cataloguecan be accessed online (or sent periodically) informing the user of whatthey can purchase for various predetermined numbers of accumulatedpoints. If the catalogue is provided in printed form, it is particularlydesirable that it be netpage enabled, which allows the registered userto select (via a checkbox, circling gesture, or in any other suitablefashion) which goods or services they wish to purchase. The system canbe set up such that ordering and delivery of the chosen goods orservices requires no filling in of forms, or phone calls.

[0291] Similarly, if the catalogue is provided by an electronic deliverymechanism such as email, it is preferred that it include data such thatprinting it on a netpage-enabled printer results in a netpage-enableddocument that can be interacted with as described above.

[0292] The user can also be spent special offers that are likely to beof interest given such information as past purchases (both via thecatalogue and as part of obtaining the tokens/points in the first place)and the number of points they have accumulated.

The claims:
 1. A method of enabling entry to a competition viamachine-readable coded data on an entry form on a printed label of aproduct, the method including the steps of: receiving, in a computersystem, interaction data from a sensing device, the interaction datarepresenting interaction of the sensing device with the coded data onthe entry form, the interaction data allowing the competition entry tobe electronically captured in the computer system; and transmitting thecompetition entry to a competition administrator.
 2. The method of claim1, wherein the label further includes human-readable informationrelating to the competition.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein at leastsome of the coded data includes a label identifier.
 4. The method ofclaim 3, wherein the label identifier is a unique product itemidentifier.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the unique productidentifier is an electronic product code.
 6. The method of claim 2,wherein the coded data is substantially invisible to a human.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the sensing device is configured toelectronically capture handwriting as digital ink as the sensing deviceis used to write on the label, the digital ink being captured by sensingthe position, over time, of the sensing device relative to at least someof the coded data, the method further including the steps of: in thecomputer system, receiving the digital ink; and transmitting the digitalink to the competition administrator as part of the competition entry.8. The method of claim 1, wherein the interaction data identifies theform and a position of the sensing device relative to the form, theidentity and the position having been determined based on at least someof the coded data sensed by the sensing device, the method including thestep of using the interaction data to identify the entry form anddetermine how the sensing device has been used to interact with theentry form.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the interaction dataincludes movement data, said movement data representing movement of thesensing device relative to the form, the method including the step, inthe computer system, of interpreting the movement and using theinterpretation as part of capturing the competition entry.
 10. A methodof enabling entry to a competition via a printed label of a product, thelabel including: machine-readable coded data relating to an identity ofthe product label; and human-readable information relating to thecompetition, the method including the steps of: using a sensing device,reading at least some of the coded data while the sensing device is usedby a user to draw or write on the interface, and generating interactiondata based on the read coded data, the interaction data being indicativeof a position of the sensing device relative to the interface and of theidentity of the product label; receiving, in a computer system, theinteraction data from the sensing device; and transmitting competitionentry information based on the interaction data to a competitionadministrator, the competition administrator being configured to recorda competition entry based on the competition entry information.
 11. Themethod of claim 10, wherein the step of reading the coded data includesthe step of sensing the machine-readable coded data as the sensingdevice is moved relative to the interface surface.
 12. The method ofclaim 10, wherein the human readable information of the interfaceincludes one or more visible elements, each of the elements having acorresponding zone associated with it in the computer system, the methodfurther including the step of sensing, while the sensing device is beingused to interact with one of the visible elements, coded data coincidentwith or adjacent that visible element, and determinging, from the sensedcoded data, the position of the sensing device.
 13. The method of claim12, wherein the human-readable information on the interface surfaceindicates, to a user, one or more of the following instructions: requestinformation; provide information; or implement an action.
 14. The methodof claim 13, wherein the human-readable information includes anindication of at least one of the following: requesting furtherinformation about the competition; or inquiring about a result of thecompetition.
 15. The method of claim 13, wherein the human-readableinformation includes an indication to at least one of: answer a questionfor the competition; provide a signature; or select a check box.
 16. Themethod of claim 13, wherein the human-readable information includes anindication of an action including at least one of: printing; orsubmitting an entry.
 17. The method of claim 2, wherein at least some ofthe coded data includes a label identifier.
 18. The method of claim 17,wherein the label identifier is a unique product item identifier. 19.The method of claim 18, wherein the unique product identifier is anelectronic product code.
 20. A system for enabling competition entryusing machine-readable coded data on a printed competition entry form ona label of a product, and a sensing device configured to sense at leastsome of the coded data from a form and generating interaction data, saidinteraction data representing interaction of the sensing device with thecoded data, the system including a computer system configured andprogrammed to: receive the interaction data and electronically capturethe competition entry on the basis of the interaction data; and transmitthe competition entry to a competition administrator.
 21. The system ofclaim 20, wherein the interaction data identifies at least an identityof the form.
 22. The system of claim 17, wherein the interaction datafurther identifies at least a position of the sensing device relative tothe form.
 23. The system of claim 17, wherein the form is disposed on aproduct label having human-readable information relating to acompetition, the coded data relating to an identity of the label.
 24. Asystem for enabling competition entry via a product label includinghuman-readable information relating to a competition andmachine-readable coded data relating to an identity of the label, and asensing device configured to sense the machine-readable coded data asthe sensing device is used to interact with the product label, and togenerate interaction data based at least partly on the sensed codeddata, the system including a computer system configured and programmedto: receive the interaction data from the sensing device; correlate theinteraction data with a competition; and record an entry in thecompetition based on the correlation.
 25. The system of claim 21,wherein the product label includes one or more of: information fieldsthat show information about the competition; button fields that causeone or more actions when interacted with by the sensing device; andentry fields for user input using the sensing device, the interactiondata being interpreted as part of the correlation with respect tointeraction of the sensing device with the one or more fields.
 26. Thesystem of claim 22, wherein the product label includes at least onebutton field, the system being configured such that interaction datagenerated by interaction of the sensing device with one of the at leastone button fields causes an action to be performed in the computersystem.
 27. The system of claim 21, wherein the action is thecorrelation of the interaction data with the competition.
 28. The systemof claim 21, further comprising a display device, wherein interactiondata generated on the basis of coded data sensed during interaction ofthe sensing device with at least one of the button fields causes thecomputer system to display information on the display device.
 29. Aproduct label including coded data and human-readable information, thelabel being configured for use with the method of claim 1 or 10, or withthe system of claim 17 or
 21. 30. A method according to claim 1,implemented using a product label, the product label comprising:machine-readable coded data indicative of at least an identity of thelabel, said machine-readable coded data being readable by a sensingdevice as the sensing device is moved across the product label, therebyto produce interaction data for enabling the competition entry;human-readable information pertaining to the competition, thehuman-readable information being at least partially coincident with themachine-readable coded data, the human-readable information including atleast one field element that has a corresponding zone defined inrelation to it in a page description stored in a remote computer system.31. A method according to claim 1, including the steps, performed in acomputer system, of: receiving interaction data representing interactionof a sensing device with the coded data, the interaction data enablingthe competition entry to be electronically captured in the computersystem; assigning a competition alias ID to the competition entry; andtransmitting the competition entry to a competition administrator withthe competition alias ID, thereby enabling the anonymous entry to thecompetition.
 32. A method according to claim 1, including the steps,performed in a computer system, of: identifying a firsttelecommunication address of the entrant from: an identity of thesensing device received or determined in the computer system; or theinteraction data; associating a temporary telecommunication address withthe first telecommunication address; sending the temporarytelecommunication address and interaction data to a competitionadministrator; receiving, from the competition administrator,information from the competition administrator addressed to saidtemporary telecommunication address; and forwarding the information fromthe competition administrator to the first telecommunication address.33. A method of according to claim 1, including limiting subsequentcommunication between a competition administrator and the entrant; via asensing device interacting with machine-readable coded data on a printedcompetition entry form, the method comprising the steps, performed in acomputer system, of: (a) receiving interaction data representing theinteraction of the sensing device with the coded data, the interactiondata enabling the competition entry to be electronically captured in thecomputer system; (b) transmitting the competition entry to thecompetition administrator; and (c) enabling transmission of up to apredetermined number of electronic messages from the competitionadministrator to the entrant.
 34. A method according to claim 1, themethod comprising the steps, performed in a computer system, of: (a)receiving interaction data representing the interaction of the sensingdevice with the coded data, the interaction data enabling identificationof the application; (b) transmitting information based on at least someof the interaction data to the application; and (c) enablingtransmission of up to a predetermined number of electronic messages fromthe application to the user.
 35. A method according to claim 1,including enabling an entrant to enter an instant win competition via aprinted competition entry form that includes machine-readable coded datathat can be sensed by a sensing device configured to generateinteraction data based on the sensed coded data, the method comprisingthe steps, performed in a computer system, of: receiving the interactiondata representing interaction of the sensing device with the coded data,the interaction data enabling the competition entry to be captured inthe computer system; transmitting the competition entry to a competitionadministrator that is configured to determine whether the competitionentry is an instant win entry.
 36. A method according to claim 1,including enabling anonymous electronic redemption of a coupon printedas part of a product label, the product label including machine-readablecoded data, the method including the steps, performed in a computersystem, of: receiving interaction data representing interaction of asensing device with the coded data, the interaction data enablingelectronic capture of: coupon data of the coupon; and a productidentifier associated with the product label; assigning a competitionalias ID to the coupon data; and transmitting the coupon data, theproduct identifier and the competition alias ID to a couponadministrator configured to redeem the coupon electronically.
 37. Amethod according to claim 1, enabling anonymous and electronicredemption a plurality of coupons, wherein each the plurality of couponsis disposed on a product label and includes coded data that can be usedto determine a unique product identifier of the product label with whichit is associated, the method including the steps of: using a sensingdevice, and for each of the plurality of coupons: (a) generatinginteraction data by sensing at least some of the coded data of thecoupon, the interaction data representing interaction of the sensingdevice with the coded data; and (b) forwarding the interaction data to acomputer system, for enabling the coupon offer and the productidentifier associated with the product label to be capturedelectronically in the computer system, thereby enabling the computersystem to transmit the coupon offer and the product identifier to acoupon administrator; and receiving coupon redemption information fromthe coupon administrator after a predetermined combination of couponoffers relating to a plurality of the product identifiers and or couponoffers has been transmitted to the coupon administrator.
 38. A methodaccording to claim 1, the method including the steps, performed in acomputer system, of: receiving, from the sensing device: interactiondata representing interaction of the sensing device with the coded data,the interaction data enabling the competition entry to be electronicallycaptured in the computer system; and a sensing device ID of the sensingdevice; allocating a temporary registration to the sensing device ID orto a user of the sensing device, the registration including a returnelectronic address associated with the sensing device ID or the user;transmitting the competition entry to a competition administrator; andverifying competition entry via the return electronic address.
 39. Amethod according to claim 1, including validating entry to a competitionvia interaction of a sensing device with a printed competition entryform comprising coded data indicative of a unique product identifier,the method comprising the steps, performed in the computer system, of:receiving, from the sensing device, the product identifier andinteraction data representing interaction of the sensing device with thecoded data, the interaction data including at least the unique productidentifier and enabling a competition entry to be electronicallycaptured in the computer system; and transmitting the product identifierand the competition entry to a competition administrator for validationof the competition entry at the competition administrator byverification of the product identifier.